Our oldest was still sick, so he purged before we left the BTL center. Thankfully that was the last of the puke for our trip! I did decide to load up the kids with anti-vomiting medicine that morning. So not sure if the medicine really helped or if they just had all of the icky pool water out of their system finally. Either way, it was a good and quick trip to Mombasa (versus up to 10 hours by a stinky hot bus... yep, we made the right decision to fly!)
I had to get a picture of the Kenyan rock crusher. I wonder what he gets paid for breaking the larger rocks into smaller pieces to be used in the new road? Probably barely enough to sustain himself. Almost unbelievable to see.
When we arrived in Mombasa, we headed north to our beach house, which was on the Indian Ocean about 30km north of town. Along the way, we saw this massive sisal plantation. The sisal plants are grown for their fibers, which are extracted from their leaves and used for things such as ropes, twine, carpets and also in heavy clothes items such as shoes, jeans, burlap, etc. The manager of our beach house stopped by a few days after we arrived and told us that the workers for the plantation, working out in the hot sun all day long, make the equivalent of $3USD/day. They have a hard time getting/keeping workers, not hard to imagine why.
After passing through two series of security gates, we arrived at our beach house (which then has it's own individual gate as well). You'd think that sounds extreme. But the real extreme was the luxury of our beach house in comparison to the homes (shacks) of the poor.
This is what we pulled up to. And I don't think my pictures come close to doing this place justice. It's hard to capture on film how immediately relaxing and lovely this house was. In fact, the website doesn't begin to do it justice, either. It was much, much nicer than we had imagined.
As you enter the house, you can see the pool and ocean beyond...
This was our view for the next 3 days!
A quick tour so you can appreciate how large this house was...
the master bedroom
Piper's room
The older two's room
and an extra bedroom
The indoor dining area
connected to the living room (with a den at the end)
On the outside patio there were many sitting areas...
and outdoor dining, behind the 3 person staff. Left to right were our cook, the gardener and the housekeeper. At first (well, ok, the whole time) we were a bit uncomfortable with having staff to take care of us. It was wonderful not to have to make our own meals and clean up after the boys, but it still felt weird. However, considering that good jobs are scarce and even the woman (the women make less than the men for the same job) made better money than the men working at the sisal plantation (or probably almost any other labor job around)... these three have it pretty good. And we were pretty easy guests, eating cereal for 2 breakfasts and away all day on Wednesday.
The boys took about 10 minutes until they were in the pool! They completely forgot how sick they were over the last few days... and we decided that there was no way to keep them out of this pool, which also seemed more properly chlorinated. So they swam and swam! We all did, it was hot and humid in Mombasa, but the ocean breeze kept us comfortable. The water in the pool was warm enough to stay in all evening.
View of the house from the pool area. The upstairs balcony also had many outdoor couches and chairs and 3 hammocks to lounge about. I think with all the beds, the futon in the play area upstairs (no picture of that) and all the outdoor couches and hammocks... you could probably sleep around 18-20 people here if all the beds and couches and hammocks were used. Pretty crazy. And this house was the same cost as just two bedrooms at a hotel in the city of Mombasa, so it was also a great deal for us with a lot more privacy.
It was truly paradise.
These are the steps that lead down to the sea. It was high tide, so we just swam in the pool Tuesday evening, but on Thursday we put the ladder down and explored and snorkeled along the corral reefs just out from the house.
Fun with Daddy in the pool.
Which, of course, involves being thrown!
View of pool and the Indian Ocean beyond from the balcony.
Wider view.
As the sun sets...
And I'll end with a beautiful sunrise taken from our room.
Again, we felt pretty out of our league in this gorgeous beach house. It was truly wonderful, however, to be able to relax on Tuesday after so much that had happened over the last few days. The boys sat down Tuesday evening and ate their first meal since Sunday lunch. We got a good nights' sleep, lulled by the sound of the waves and the constant breeze from the ocean.
Wednesday morning we woke up early and headed out to visit our other 2 Compassion children...
2 comments:
Gorgeous beach house. I have really enjoyed your blogs about your trip to see your sponsor children. It truly is an eye opening experience. One of the most fertile continents but yet the poorest.
BEAUTIFUL!!!
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